The Baikonur Cosmodrome is the oldest and largest operational space launch facility in the world. It is located in the middle of the vast Kazakh desert, where temperature ranges from -40ºC to 45°C and some peaceful camels watch the spaceships passing by.

It was from Baikonur that the first satellite to orbit the Earth was launched, and that Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the Earth, was launched into space in 1961.

Now Baikonur is partly abandoned, because Russian government cannot afford to maintain it.

Built in 1955, when Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union, Baikonur covers 6717 square kilometres and extends 75 kilometres from north to south and 90 kilometres from east to west.

The name Baikonur was chosen to intentionally mislead the West as to the actual location of the site by suggesting that the site was near Baikonur, a mining town about 320 kilometers northeast of the space centre in the desert area near Dzhezkazgan.

Nowadays, Russia pays $115 million annually for the use of Baikonur under an agreement that will remain in effect until 2050.

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